9 of the best places to visit in Georgia

Where Europe and Asia grind up against each other, magical Georgia sits on the southern slope of the Great Caucasus mountain range, whose snowcapped peaks run from the Black Sea to the Caspian. Though relatively small in terms of area, this nation offers a huge variety of scenery and activities, but with a mountainous landscape and limited transport infrastructure, traveling around is more time-consuming than you might imagine. While there’s no need to limit yourself to just one region, you’re best off deciding what kind of trip you want to have, and then choosing a few parts of the country to focus on.

To help you do that, here are some of the very best places to consider including in any itinerary for Georgia.

1. Tbilisi

Best place for food, drink and nightlife

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Quickly beguiling anyone who visits, the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, offers up a fascinating Old Town, a wealth of avant-garde Soviet architecture, traditional sulfur baths, and an extraordinary array of medieval churches. Spread out along the narrow valley of the Mtkvari River, it's the kind of place you have to get up high to really appreciate – try taking the cable car to the Sololaki ridge where you’ll find the Narikala Fortress and iconic Mother Georgia (aka Kartlis Deda). You can also take the funicular to the city’s highest point, Mtatsminda, where, on top of stellar city views, you also get a fairground and a huge Ferris wheel.

Tbilisi is also the best place to eat out, drink Georgia’s famous wines and go partying, with dozens of innovative menus available at establishments such as Barbarestan, Azarphesha, Alubali and Keto and Kote. Book at least a week ahead for the best restaurants in the summer months.

Planning tip: There's plenty to keep you entertained for days, but Tbilisi can also serve as a base from which to do day trips to various other parts of central Georgia. 

2. Batumi

Best city on the Black Sea

Batumi, Georgia’s second city, is the subtropical yin to Tbilisi’s yang, with its beachfront location, charming Old Town, seemingly endless seaside esplanade and an ever-growing number of glitzy skyscrapers – Georgia’s answer to Dubai, locals will tell you with a grin.

The city is built for pleasure, and functions as Georgia’s unofficial temporary capital during the height of summer, when most of Tbilisi's locals decamp en masse to the Black Sea’s beaches for sunshine, cocktails and partying on the seafront. Inland, the autonomous Adjaran region offers wonderful rafting and hiking, as well as the famously rickety cable car in Khulo.

Planning tip: Georgia’s best beaches can be found to the south of the city, between Batumi and the border with Türkiye. 

3. Kutaisi

Best base for exploring nature

Sleepy Kutaisi has found itself relegated to Georgia’s third-largest city in recent years as coastal Batumi booms. But this ancient town, which may once have been home to the golden fleece of Greek legend, has nonetheless managed to establish itself as the center of Georgia’s burgeoning tourist industry.

Not only is Kutaisi bang in the center of the country (making it a more obvious base than either Tbilisi or Batumi), but it’s also surrounded by a wealth of sights, natural wonders and diverse attractions including the Martvili Canyon, Okatse Canyon, the Gelati Monastery and two astonishing relics of communism, the towns of Tskaltubo and Chiatura.

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Planning tip: The nearby David the Builder International Airport brings dozens of low-cost airline flights to Kutaisi from all over Europe each week, and there are lots of hostels and a competitive short-term apartment rental market.   

4. Stepantsminda

Best for easy access to the High Caucasus

The extraordinary Georgian Military Highway takes you to the town of Stepantsminda (still commonly referred to by its Soviet-era name, Kazbegi), on the border with northern neighbor Russia. Though the epic journey here has lost some of its charm since becoming a busy truck route for imports to Russia, there is no denying the incredible setting of the town, not least the iconic silhouette of the hilltop church Tsminda Sameba against the glacier of Mt Kazbek. It's truly a sight that never ceases to amaze, despite its reproduction on a million postcards.

Planning tip: Head to Tsminda Sameba Church first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon when the light is better, and – crucially – when you’ll not have to share this magical spot with the crowds.

5. Svaneti

Best mountain scenery

Georgia’s mountains are extraordinary and jaw-dropping wherever you encounter them. But if you want to see the best scenery in the country, there’s nowhere that can compete with the ancient and mysterious region of Svaneti. As well as Georgia’s highest peak, Shkhara (5068m), which towers over the wonderful highland village of Ushguli, there is almost limitless potential for hiking here, not least the now well-known Mestia to Ushguli 4-day hike, which allows you to sleep each night in a different village.

Planning tip: You can skip the taxing 8-hour drive to Svaneti from Tbilisi and get there in under an hour by taking one of the affordable daily flights to Mestia with Vanilla Sky.

6. Vardzia

Best monastery

In a country with more than its fair share of staggering monasteries and churches in perilously remote places, Vardzia is unquestionably the most magnificent of the lot. Its 13 floors are hewn into a cliffside and boast no fewer than 13 churches among its 400-plus rooms. The monastery’s astonishing setting in a dramatic river valley makes it a real showstopper, and the undulating drive to get here from Akhaltsikhe is a wonderful treat to boot.

Planning tip: Hire a guide at the ticket office – it's not possible to access some of the caves and passageways without them.

7. Sighnaghi

Best place to enjoy Georgian wine

There’s magic in the air in Sighnaghi, and that’s not just down to its high altitude and the vertiginous views it affords into the vast valley below. This hilltop delight has more than a hint of Tuscany about it, with its terracotta roofs, cobbled streets and enviably slow pace of life.

Take a walk along the incredibly well-preserved city walls and visit the town museum, which has one of the best collections of paintings by Georgia’s most famous artist, Niko Pirosmani. Then settle in at one of Sighnaghi’s many wine bars to sample the result of the grape harvest in the country’s premier wine-producing region.

Planning tip: Call ahead to enjoy a delicious, organic lunch at the Lost Ridge Inn, just a few kilometers outside Sighnaghi.

8. Mtskheta

Best place for a spiritual experience

So close to Tbilisi that the sprawling capital’s suburbs threaten to engulf it, Mtskheta enjoys a magical setting at the picturesque confluence of two rivers. It was also the location of one of Georgia’s most important historical moments – its conversion to Christianity at the hands of St Nino in the 4th century. That vital event, which still forms a huge part of Georgian national identity, is memorialized in the Jvari Church, Georgia’s holy of holies, which commands terrific views over the town from its soaring hilltop location. Meanwhile, down in the town itself is the stunning 11th-century Svetiskhoveli Cathedral, an architectural gem of Georgia’s early Golden Age.

Planning tip: You only need a couple of hours to see Mtskheta, and its location just northwest of Tbilisi makes it an obvious pit stop on any journey up to Stepantsminda or west towards Kutaisi.

9. Borjomi

Best spa town

There’s more than a little touch of the Russian empire about this glorious 19th-century spa town tucked away amid the thickly wooded hills of the Lesser Caucasus. Borjomi’s salty-sour mineral water is Georgia’s most famous export and is instantly familiar to almost anyone from the former Soviet Union. However, the elegant resort town that produces it is worth a visit even if you’ve never heard of its eponymous sulfurous water. The sprawling Borjomi Central Park starts with tacky rides and children’s entertainments, but once you get past them it opens up into a gorgeous riverside walk that brings you to a trio of delightful thermal pools.

Planning tip: Use the town as a base for excellent hiking in the Borjomi-Kharagauli National Park, and take the small-gage railway line to the nearby alpine resort of Bakuriani.